In Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, that often frustrating facet of racing smiled on Clint Bowyer and his Michael Waltrip Racing team, allowing the Kansas native to collect his first victory in the Chase and third this season. It also smiled on Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson, permitting them to finish second and third, respectively.

However, for point leader Brad Keselowski, fuel mileage strategy became a gremlin that cost him his first finish outside the top 10 since Bristol in August.

The fuel mileage strategy utilized by the teams also altered the Chase’s complexion. Entering the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the 1.5-mile track, it appeared the championship battled had boiled down to three drivers – Keselowski, Johnson and Hamlin. However, Bowyer’s first CMS victory returned him to contention. Halfway through the 10-race stretch, Keselowski possesses a slim seven-point advantage over Johnson. Hamlin trails by 15 and Bowyer has closed to within 28 points.

“I think the run that won us the race wasn’t the last one, it was the run before that, the next to last run,” said Bowyer, who led three times for 29 laps in the race that had 20 lead changes among eight drivers. “(Crew chief) Brian (Pattie) went out and it was a gutsy call to go out and stretch it as long as possible on the last run. If we would have pitted one lap earlier, I think we would have ran out of gas.”

Keselowski’s Dodge did run out of fuel while he was leading on lap 276 of the 334-lap race. His stop took 22

“I had to coast for quite a ways and it wouldn’t start when I got back to pit road,” said Keselowski, who finished 11th but was the top lap leader with 139. “I think we probably would have finished fourth or fifth from what I can tell if we didn’t run out of fuel, but that’s the way it is.”

Hamlin and Johnson gained an advantage when they pitted for fuel only during the fifth caution period that consumed laps 224-227. That stop came within 10 laps of their previous one.

“It’s just weird running so long, saving fuel like we had to at the end, and the two segments worth,” Johnson said, “but there’s some tracks and some conditions where that’s just the game you have to play. The thing I’m excited about is that we’re now as a 48 car, myself as the driver, able to do that when needed.”

Crew chief Darian Grubb held the reins on Hamlin until four laps remained. That, however, didn’t provide Hamlin with enough time to catch Bowyer.

“I stopped and congratulated Denny on a great run and Denny said, ‘I’ve got too much gas left. I waited too long to make my run,’” Waltrip said. “I said, ‘No, you didn’t. You did perfect.’”

The victory marked the third time this season Bowyer’s crew has had to push its Toyota into the winner’s circle because it was out of fuel.

“Saving fuel really helps me because I back the corner up and the car rotates,” said Bowyer, who averaged 154.935 mph in the race slowed by five caution flags for 23 laps. “It’s kind of like slapping you in the face, saying, ‘Oh, this

Even though the fuel strategy played an instrumental role, Bowyer didn’t believe he would have won if he hadn’t moved up the track and tried to figure out the outside line. Bowyer said Johnson was running him down a couple of times when he decided to moved up the track, back up the corner and try to make the arc of the radius as big as possible.

“I started backing the corner up to get the thing to turn and the next thing you know doing so you’re going faster and saving gas,” Bowyer explained after his eighth career victory.

Hamlin noted any race car driver can “really save gas and be efficient with it.”

“You’re just running the race backwards,” he explained. “You’re just seeing how slow you can go and maintain your track position.”

A tactic Bowyer, along with the help of Pattie and spotter Brett Griffin, apparently has mastered in his first year with MWR.